Effect of Three Treatment Modalities for White Spot Enamel Lesions on Enamel Surface Roughness and Micro-Hardness

Introduction: White spot lesions (WSLs) are early signs of enamel demineralization, which may or may not lead to the development of caries, this indicates that there is a mineral loss of subsurface area beneath an intact enamel surface. Aim: This is a vitro study evaluated the effect of three treatment modalities for white spot enamel lesion namely; resin infiltration, remineralization and micro-abrasion on enamel surface roughness and micro-hardness. Materials and methods: Artificial white spot lesions were produced in enamel surface from a sixty intact extracted human permanent premolars were selected for the study. The selected teeth were divided into three groups according to methods of treatment of white spot lesion (20 teeth each); resin infiltration, micro-abrasion and remineralization. For both surface roughness and micro-hardness tests, the assessment was done three times; prior to WSLs productions (baseline) after WSLs production (pretreatment phase) and after treatment (post treatment phase). The different between base line and post treatment phase values will be calculated and represented as the change occurring (value). Statistical analysis was done using one way Anova. Results: The results of the current study showed that after treatment of WSLs the surface roughness improved significantly in all tested groups but there was no statistically significant difference between all treated groups. Also, the results of the current study showed that after treatment of the WSLs the microhardness increased in all groups but there was statistically significant difference between Icon ® treated group compared to both Opalustre ® and Tooth Mousse ® treated groups. Conculsions: The three tested modalities for the treatment of white spot lesions could improve the surface roughness and the micro-hardness of the treated enamel but the Opalustre ® and Tooth Mousse™ were equally effective in improving the microhardness ® and more effective than Icon. demineralization, which may or may not lead to the development of caries, this indicates that there is a mineral loss of subsurface area beneath an intact enamel surface. This loss of mineralized layer creates porosities that change the refractive index of usually translucent enamel, so the white spot lesions can appear as a milky white opacity when located on smooth surfaces and detected by the naked eye (1) .